The Bush Administration’s Creeping Siege Mentality

Where you’ve got a siege, there you shall find a siege mentality. And the White House is definitely under siege -- from undeniable, incontrovertible facts.

Here at the Huff Post we plan to chronicle the Bush administration’s deeper and deeper descent into siege mentality. What are the hallmarks? Denial, defensiveness, doubletalk, robotic reiterations of stale talking points, wild counterattacks, a pathological fear of admitting mistakes, and an utter inability to change course -- even when the current course is taking us right over the cliff. Practically reads like an employee manual for Bush administration staffers, doesn’t it?

There’s plenty of evidence to work with. Let’s start with denial and robotic reiteration. They were both on display at a Pentagon press conference this week.

When asked about how they’re defining success, Pentagon spokesperson Larry DiRita replied: “There is no military definition of success.” Then how is the military expected to deliver a non-military definition of success?

Denial? Check.

And here is some robotic reiteration from Lt. General James Conway, Director of Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff: “We have a plan for growing the force. We are on track with projection of numbers… I’m confident that the trends are moving in the right direction.” Robotic reiteration? Check.

And here is an exchange that shows definite signs of CSM (Creeping Siege Mentality):

Conway: The actual mission, I suppose, is classified but I can paraphrase it to say that it’s a safe and secure Iraq that we’re able to turn back over to the Iraqis.

Reporter: Can you give us a better sense of what that means, "safe and secure"?

Conway: There are metrics associated with it. And, again, I think we'll know it when we see it.

Kinda like porno, eh General? In other words, you have no idea.

As for when U.S. troops might be coming home, the administration party line is clearly set. In the words of Gen. Conway: “If we have a deadline [the insurgents] can wait us out.”

Won’t they wait us out anyway?

The press conference closed with a few questions about the drop in public support for the war, at which point the General trotted out this whopper:

Conway: Obviously, the public support of these kinds of operations is critical, which is why we spend a lot of time trying to make sure that the public has full access to all the information.

Add to the signs of CSM the telling of comically unbelievable lies. Check.